Piracy Spreads Off West Africa

By

Jenny Gross and

Drew Hinshaw

Sept. 14, 2012 12:46 p.m. ET

Piracy along Africa's Atlantic coast is threatening to raise costs for the vast amount of seaborne trade that passes through the region, as the activity spreads from Nigeria into the poorly-patrolled seas of nearby Togo and Benin.

Pirates are expanding into Togo and Benin faster than Nigeria's navy can commission new gunboats and ramp up cross-border exercises. In East Africa, rates of piracy are falling thanks to greater coordination between naval forces, but in West African waters there have been three attacks in the...